Communities under Fire

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Dowdall
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Forced Displacement ◽  
French Society ◽  
Western Front ◽  
Military Violence ◽  
History Of

Communities under Fire rewrites the history of the Western Front from the perspective of its civilian inhabitants. Between 1914 and 1918, the fighting passed through some of Europe’s most populated and industrialised regions. Large French towns including Nancy, Reims, Arras, and Lens lay at the heart of the battlefield. Their civilian inhabitants endured artillery bombardment, military occupation, and considerable material hardships. Many fled for the safety of the French interior, but others lived under fire for much of the war, ensuring the Western Front remained a joint civil-military space. Communities under Fire explores the wartime experiences of civilians on both sides of the Western Front, and uncovers how urban communities responded to the dramatic impact of industrialized war. It discusses how war shaped civilians’ personal and collective identities, and explores how the experiences of military violence, occupation, and forced displacement structured the attitudes of civilians at the front towards the nation. It argues that that the direct experiences of war shaped both personal and collective identities, placing civilians at the Western Front at the forefront of a broader process of wartime militarization. This development had wide-ranging social impacts, as civilians in towns at the Western Front felt their experiences marked them out as members of ‘communities under fire’ inhabiting distinct positions within wartime French society, and entitled them to privileged treatment. This book explains the multiple ways by which urban residents responded to, were changed by, succumbed to, or survived the enormous pressures of life in a warzone.

Occupation Regimes and Civil–Military Encounters at the Western Front

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-124
Author(s):  
Alex Dowdall
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Allied Occupation ◽  
Western Front ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Military

Chapter 3 uncovers the dynamics of the military occupation regimes put in place on both sides of the lines during the First World War, and demonstrates how they impacted civilian life in the front-line towns. It provides the first comparative analysis of military occupation on both sides of the Western Front, and argues that although some of the methods employed differed from one side of the lines to the other, the main objectives were fundamentally the same. In all cases civilian freedoms were curtailed on the basis of military necessity. It describes the German and Allied occupation regimes side by side, before moving on to a discussion of the face-to-face encounters and relationships that developed between individual civilians and soldiers. It demonstrates that three types of encounter between civilians and soldiers had particularly strong impacts on the social dynamics of urban communities on both sides of the Western Front. They arose from military indiscipline, platonic relationships, and sexual encounters. The chapter argues that although the German occupation regime was notably harsher than that on the Allied side, and forced civilians to navigate complex issues of resistance and collaboration, in both cases urban life near the front was profoundly shaped by the military presence.

URBAN DISPLACEMENT AND LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES: THE CASE OF THE AMERICAN CITY FROM THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 06 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Knight ◽  
Mohammad Gharipour
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Redevelopment ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Cultural Connections ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

How can urban redevelopment benefit existing low-income communities? The history of urban redevelopment is one of disruption of poor communities. Renewal historically offered benefits to the place while pushing out the people. In some cases, displacement is intentional, in others it is unintentional. Often, it is the byproduct of the quest for profits. Regardless of motives, traditional communities, defined by cultural connections, are often disrupted. Disadvantaged neighborhoods include vacant units, which diminish the community and hold back investment. In the postwar period, American cities entered into a program of urban renewal. While this program cleared blight, it also drove displacement among the cities’ poorest and was particularly hard on minority populations clustered in downtown slums. The consequences of these decisions continue to play out today. Concentration of poverty is increasing and American cities are becoming more segregated. As neighborhoods improve, poorer residents are uprooted and forced into even more distressed conditions, elsewhere. This paper examines the history of events impacting urban communities. It further reviews the successes and failures of efforts to benefit low-income communities.

scholarly journals Residential Mobility and Post-Move Community Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Guangzhou, China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 741
Author(s):  
Sanqin Mao ◽  
Jie Chen
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Residential Mobility ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Community Satisfaction ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Informal Communities ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Practical Implications

In the last few decades, urban communities in China have experienced unprecedented social and spatial changes under the heightened mobility, which is induced by urban redevelopment and expansion. Prior works of community satisfaction of Chinese urban residents gave little attention to the influence of past residential mobility experiences, which is insufficient to capture the dynamics of urban community in a rapidly changing environment. The paper attempts to address this deficiency in the literature by including characteristics of a resident’s last mobility experience in the model to understand the resident’s community satisfaction based on a city-wide survey in Guangzhou, China. The two-level linear hierarchical regression analysis substantiates the importance of the last mobility experience in a resident’s satisfaction with current community. It reveals that those experienced the “upgrade” relocation from informal communities to formal communities, or former work unit compounds to developed commodity housing estates, will be more satisfied with the community than those did not have such experience. It also reveals that the effects of a resident’s personal and socio-economic characteristics on the resident’s community satisfaction also heavily depend on his or her most recent mobility pattern. The findings in this paper have both policy and practical implications for informing community governance and urban planning in China and worldwide.

Sexual Assault While in the Military: Violence as a Predictor of Cardiac Risk?

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Frayne ◽  
Katherine M. Skinner ◽  
Lisa M. Sullivan ◽  
Karen M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Women Veterans ◽  
Cardiac Risk ◽  
Veterans Administration ◽  
Cardiac Risk Factors ◽  
Military Violence ◽  
Problem Alcohol Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

The purpose of this article is to determine whether known cardiac risk factors are more prevalent among women veterans who report having sustained sexual assault while in the military. We surveyed a random sample of 3,632 women veterans using Veterans Administration (VA) ambulatory care nationally. Obesity, smoking, problem alcohol use, sedentary lifestyle, and hysterectomy before age 40 were found to be more common in women reporting a history of sexual assault while in the military than in women without such history. An association between myocardial infarction and prior sexual assault history may be mediated in part by known cardiac risk factors.

Inclusion and exclusion—We and the Other. Response to Vamik Volkan’s Key-note Lecture

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Mies
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Norbert Elias ◽  
German Nation ◽  
History Of

This response is focused on the following question: What may be the specific group analytic point of view on phenomena as the resurgence of nationalism in the western world, the so-called refugee crisis and the confrontation with Islamism and Islamist terror? The guideline of this response will be the idea of the ‘group of individuals’, which Norbert Elias characterized as his main contribution to group analytic theory. The response will emphasize the significance of the Other for the formation of personal and collective identities. It will argue that we face the Other, not only outside our own group, but also inside, and that xenophobia goes hand in hand with the denial of real differences and conflicts inside one’s own group. Finally, the history of the German nation-state is discussed as an exemplary case.

scholarly journals Χορευτική-μουσική ταυτότητα και ετερότητα

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Χρήστος Παπακώστας
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Positive Perspective ◽  
The Times ◽  
Dynamic Quality

The present dissertation aims at studying dancing and music and the relationship between these two forms of culture in the construction of the cultural identity of the Roma in Heracleia of the Prefecture of Serres. Nowadays, Heracleia is a town with 4,000 residents. Its population has a mixed ethnological composition: Vlachs, natives (Greek speakers, and Slavic speakers), refugees, Sarakachans, Roma and Gypsies. In the past Heracleia was known as Tzumaya and was flourishing both financially and culturally thanks to its geographical position in the times of the Ottoman Empire and thanks to its famous bazaar. Thus, for a more complete understanding of the changes and transitions that took place it is significant to embody history as a new fundamental framework of interpretation. An important research tool for the accentuation of the principal arguments of thedissertation is the space. In this specific experiential paradigm the construction of identities and the distinction between the ethnic groups is also reflected on the organization of space. The neighborhood, the space of the Roma(sedentary gypsies), is juxtaposed to the respective neighborhood of the Vlachs, the market. Thus, the space is not only examined a “geography” but as a historical and dynamic category connected and interacting with culture. The dynamic quality of dancing and music, the ethnic mosaic and the history of Heracleia and the neighboring area as well as the continuous mobility of the Roma musicians invites us to investigate if there is actually a total isomorphism of space and culture. Music and dancing are not seen as static and fixed cultural phenomena but as historical, dynamic and fluid categories that are the object of negotiation of collective identities and variants. Dancing and music are simultaneously products and processes and do not merely reflect the social structures but are closely related to the cultural identity of a group. For the transgression of the dichotomy structure/action we adopt the theory of practice (Bourdieu 1977). In this way, dancing and music become cultural practices, by which the Roma of Heracleia handle their cultural identity in any historical conditions. Especially in the case of the Roma, this approach is even more helpful, because, as a social group with a low social status, within music and dancing they are given the chance to re-determine their identity in relation to the others. That is to say that by applying various practices of resistance, acquiescence, conflict and acceptance, they attempt to give a positive perspective to their cultural identity. In the framework of this dissertation the dancing phenomenon in the neighbourhood of the Roma and the music, as a prominent form of their professional activity, are examined.

scholarly journals Employment Problems of Muslim Migrants in France (Exemplified by Paris). Part 1

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Natal’ya R. Zholudeva ◽  
◽  
Sergey A. Vasyutin
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
World War ◽  
French Society ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Colonies ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Second World

The first part of the article briefly covers the history of immigration to France, social conflicts associated with migrants, and the results of French research on discrimination of immigrants in employment. In spite of the high unemployment rate, compared with other European Union countries, France remains one of the centres of migration and receives a significant number of migrants and refugees every year. The origins of immigration to France go back to the mid-19th century. Initially, it was mainly for political reasons, in order to find a job or receive an education. Between the First and the Second World Wars, France accepted both political (e.g. from Russia, Germany and Spain) and labour migrants (from Africa and Indo-China). After World War II, the French government actively invited labour migrants from the French colonies, primarily, from North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco). When the Algerian War ended, the Harkis – Algerians who served in the French Army – found refuge in France. By the late 1960s, the Moroccan and Tunisian communities were formed. Up to the 1980s, labour migration was predominant. However, with time, the share of refugees and those who wanted to move to France with their families started to increase. This caused a growing social and political tension in French society resulting in conflicts (e.g. the 2005 riots in Paris). Moreover, the numerous terrorist attacks and the migration crisis of 2014–2016 had a particularly negative impact on the attitude towards migrants. All these issues have to a certain extent affected the employment of the Muslim population in France.

scholarly journals Historical explanation, emotives, and emotional suffering

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Radenovic
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
French Society ◽  
Emotional Suffering ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
Objectively Measured ◽  
The Revolution

One of the main goals of the book ?The Navigation of Feeling: A Framework for the History of Emotions ? by William Reddy (Reddy, 2001) is to provide an explanation of the events that led to the French Revolution and the political regimes that followed the First Republic. What makes Reddy?s approach unique is that, unlike standard political, social, economic and similar approaches, it emphasizes the role that emotions and emotional suffering have in the change of political regimes. For this purpose Reddy introduces the concept of emotives. According to him, we use emotives to express and change the emotions we feel. By expressing and changing emotions, we reconsider the values we endorse, and in the times of crisis, we sometimes embrace new ones. In this way, emotives play important role not only in the emotional regulation but also in the formation of our identity. Reddy argues that in the strict emotional regimes in which the use of emotives is restricted individuals experience emotional suffering. Such suffering is not relative to culture and can be objectively measured. Thus, for Reddy some political regimes are better than others. Within this theoretical framework Reddy describes the emotional regime of the French society that preceded the revolution as strict. According to him, emotional suffering that was caused by such regime played substantial role in bringing about the revolution. In this paper I will argue that the emotional regime of the 18th century France was not as strict as Reddy argues. What was strict were the rules for how to behave not for the emotional expressions, i.e. for the use of emotives. Thus, his analysis of the emotional pre-revolutionary regime is not without weakness. I will conclude with some problems that Reddy?s analysis of the acute emotional suffering characteristic of the revolutionary period faces.

scholarly journals Culturally inclusive water urban design: a critical history of hydrosocial infrastructures in Southern Sydney, Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 364-382
Author(s):  
Taylor Coyne ◽  
Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita ◽  
David Reid ◽  
Veljko Prodanovic
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Space Design ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Technical Terms ◽  
Sydney Australia

Abstract Historic relationships between communities and waterscapes are complex and often explained solely in technical terms. There is a key need to understand how human-centered developments have shifted the use of river spaces over time, and how these changes reflect on the values of rivers and surrounding cultures. In this paper, we develop a critical analysis of the historically changing relationship between urban communities and water infrastructures using the Georges River catchment in Sydney, Australia. Our focus was on bringing together past and current perspectives, engaging with the formation of diverse hydrosocial behaviors entangled with water infrastructures. Using post-settlement historical documents, maps, journals, and newspaper articles, we trace shifts in hydrosocial perspectives over time, mapping six distinct historic phases. In our study, we offer a shift from the main paradigms currently influencing the development of urban water infrastructures, moving away from the dominant technical propositions of systems designed purely for the management and treatment of stormwater. Drawing on our analysis, we propose a new urban water design concept: Culturally Inclusive Water Urban Design (CIWUD). This presents an advancement on current framework to include a consideration of people's connections and uses of urban waterscapes, as well as a shift towards democratic space design.

Captain Alfred Dreyfus: A case study in the group dynamics of scapegoating

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Behr
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Emile Zola ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
French Society ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Army Officer ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
History Of

This article explores the metaphor of the scapegoat by offering a case study taken from the history of France at the turn of the 20th-century. The case is presented of a French army officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful conviction for treason created an international sensation and tore French society apart. The author outlines the general features of the scapegoating dynamic and applies them to the Dreyfus case. He sets out the flow of events from Dreyfus’s first trial through to the official declaration of his innocence a century after his conviction, illustrating the tenacity of the scapegoating dynamic when an entire nation is caught up in the process. The view is put forward that it was the dramatic intervention by the novelist Emile Zola in the Dreyfus case which arrested the scapegoating process. The author asks what the implications of this might be for group analysis. At the centre of the Dreyfus case was the fact of his Jewishness. The author depicts anti-Semitism as a deeply rooted set of assumptions based on myths about the Jews. He touches on the origins of these myths in early monotheistic theology and in the political ideology of the Far Left and the Far Right. An explanation is offered for the persistence of these myths in our culture, which may extend to our understanding of myths surrounding other peoples and societies. The author concludes with some reflections on the recurring nature of the scapegoat phenomenon.

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